Indian dentists are feeling the pain of COVID-19-induced setback to their practice. While the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 has burdened the healthcare sector overall, dentistry remains one of the streams left struggling to stay afloat after remaining shut for months.

Dental clinics and hospitals across India have seen a huge drop in patients' footfall post the pandemic, forcing many dentists to shut their private practice. Those who still managed to open their clinics and hospitals have hiked their charges to cover up the loss of number of patients and to cover their regular expenditure apart from the additional cost of corona safety measures.

Dentistry took a massive hit amid the Covid-19 pandemic due to its very nature of work. Dentistry entails close proximity of dentists with their patients, involving face-to-face communication and frequent exposure to their saliva, blood etc. Thus, dentists stand a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection or vice versa. This aspect delivered a huge blow to the dental services amid the pandemic.

As per an estimate, dentists have hiked their charges of consultation or different surgical procedures by at least 50 percent. However, they claim, even the hiked charges barely cover their expenditures.

Dentists who operate their own clinics are reporting a decline of up to 80 per cent in the number of patients.

Fear of corona among public and voluntary postponement of elective procedures

Dr Tarun Panwar of Panwar Dental Clinic in New Delhi said that dental patients are afraid of coming to the clinics. "They are cancelling appointments and seeking advice on telephone. They are avoiding physical visits due to the fear of virus infection," he said.

Besides, doctors are themselves advising patients to delay dental cleaning/floss, oral health check-ups, and even cosmetic surgeries.

"Dentists are directly in contact with the breath and saliva of patients. So, we are now avoiding elective and cosmetic procedures and confining ourselves to only emergency interventions," said Dr Varun Malhotra of Malhotra's Super Specialty Dental Centre.

He said that the number of patients had to be reduced to maintain hygiene and sanitation standards as per the mandatory COVID-19 protocol.

The safety measures involve PPE kits, face shields, face mask, and disinfection of surgical equipment and examination rooms five times a day. Many dentists see patients on alternate days and set aside a full day for disinfection.

Dr Panwar said that dentists are reeling under acute financial losses. "Many of us earned around a lakh per month earlier. But now, our income has subsided to Rs 25,000 only. In this income, even paying the rent of the clinic premises seems an uphill task," he added.

(IANS)